in the natural positioning group make up just 7% of total
sales mix in these channels, they represent 57% of total
sales growth, SPINS data shows.

“Conventional retailers may be turning to natural products to garner consumer interest in the freezer section,”
according to information presented by SPINS at the American Frozen Foods Institute’s AFFI-CON event in March.

What’s Warming Up Sales?

Frozen food cases—once dominated by products such as
TV dinners, icy treats and inexpensive pot pies—are seeing an influx of creative products with healthier profiles.
Those items, experts say, are attracting consumers who
had abandoned (or never frequently visited) the frozen
food aisle.

“As younger shoppers mature into regular groceryshoppers, they demand a cleaner nutritional deck andmore diversity in product offerings,” says Jack Acree, EVPof Saffron Road Foods, manufacturers of premium Indianand Thai offerings such as chicken tikka masala, chickenpad thai and new frozen ramen and udon bowls madewith bone broth. “There is much activity in the category,from small players to large CPGs, which has drawn manyconsumers into the category.”Todd Kluger, VP of marketing and sales for LundbergFamily Farms, a company that recently launched a line ofOrganic Grainspirations Arancini frozen appetizers, seesit this way: “When categories are stagnant, or in the caseof the frozen category, in decline, it usually means thatconsumers have turned away from the common brandsthat are in the category and that innovation has not beenable to hold the consumers’ interest and imagination.

“Yes, even in the world of food, there are seasons,trends and fads, just like in the fashion world. Frozen isthe new kale, which is a fashionable way to say it. Becausethere is not a lot of innovation going into the frozen cate-gory, the new and novel will catch the consumers’ atten-tion, and great taste and quality will lead to increasedsales velocity because of repeated purchases.”Among those “new and novel” products are plant-based meals, a subcategory currently leading the pack infrozen food sales, according to SPINS.

“Year-over-year growth is high among the top subcate-gories for frozen natural products, with plant-based meals
experiencing standout success,” information from SPINS
says. “Besides reflecting a greater industry health movement toward plant-based foods, consumers may also
be seeking out plant-based frozen foods because they are more
hesitant to eat frozen meat (as
opposed to fresh meat). Some of
these plant-based meals, such as
those from Sweet Earth, also have

Acategory that appeared to be headed for a deep freeze is beginning to thaw, thanks to creative manufacturers who are introducing products that appeal to consumers looking for healthy, convenient frozen foods. According to data from SPINS, sales of nat- ural products in the frozen department have grown 29.5% over the past two years—a partic- ularly impressive trajectory given the category’s
overall performance in the conventional multioutlet and
convenience channels, where the frozen department has
grown just 1.5% over the past year. And while products